Denis Opudo
SolarFreeze is a startup that works to help Sub-Saharan African smallholder traders and farmers with accessible cold storage units that are solar powered. The Kenyan based startup, with its handy work in ensuring the Sub-Saharan African small scale holders gain access to cold storage units. It got a financial boost worth $50,000. This boost was awarded both in cash and services that will be offered across a 3-month program.
The startup won the prize during Renewable Energy Solutions for Africa (RES4Africa) event in Nairobi. It was during this event where Enel X, a division of global power company Enel Group that is in partnership with Swiss-based entrepreneur platform Seedstars World SA named the company Africa’s best innovative energy startup.
Riccardo Amoroso, Enel X’s Head of Innovation and Product Lab said that they were happy to support a startup that is championing for rural development through its rural electrification solutions. He also added that during the selection process for the African Prize, they pinpointed some startups that are bringing exclusive projects to Africa.
Enel and Seedstar’s collaboration partnership started officially in 2017 when the two firms signed an agreement. The two firms said that they would work with startups or small-scale entrepreneurs who are dedicated to offering ground-breaking solutions that mainly focus on energy efficiency, electric mobility, distributed generation, and storage.
He also added that the key to making Africa’s future more sustainable and greener are the new business models. The models bring together socio-economic growth and development of productive and commercial activities.
According to SolarFreeze, 45% of food in most developing countries get spoilt. This is majorly because of insufficient or unavailability of cold storage units.
According to Seedstars’ CEO, Alisee de Tonnac, almost 600 million people in Africa do not have access to electricity. “Addressing the energy problems through technology and entrepreneurship at SeedStar, where the objective is to find workable solutions to real problems, is thus a crucial agenda.”
Seedstar also stated that the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that have their electricity access rates more than 50% are only 7. These countries are; South Africa, Senegal, Namibia, Ghana, Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire. The remaining countries have an average grid access rate of about 20%.
The company also went ahead and added that the utilization of modern renewables is augmenting in Africa, and fomenting this growth. Therefore, it is critical because of African countries’ sui generis position. These countries have the capabilities to leapfrog the normal energy provision centralized-utility model.
